The Bettencourt scandal is back, and how to describe austerity without saying it...

In the French papers today, an investigating judge orders police to search former President Nicolas Sarkozy’s residence and offices for possible evidence that L’Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt made illicit donations to his 2007 election campaign. The rest of the papers are mesmerized by Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault’s linguistic gymnastics.

Nicolas Sarkozy came to be known as the "bling-bling" president for hanging out with the rich and famous. Now police are searching his properties to see whether there is any evidence to back up claims that France’s wealthiest woman made illicit contributions to his 2007 election campaign.

But the French papers are having more fun examining Prime Minister Ayrault’s budget speech to the National Assembly yesterday, in which he did everything in his linguistic power to avoid using words like ‘austerity’, and ‘rigour.’ Instead, he spoke of straight roads and steep climbs.